Gnaeus Domitius Calvinus was a
Roman general, senator and
consul (both in
53 BC and
40 BC) who was a loyal
partisan of
Caesar and
Octavianus.
Domitius Calvinus came from a
noble family and was
elected consul in
53 BC, despite a notorious electoral
scandal. He was on Caesar’s side during the
Civil War with
Pompey. At the decisive battle of
Pharsalus he commanded the center of Caesar’s
army. After the battle he became
governor of
Asia. He tried to oppose the
invasion of
Pharnaces, the
king of
Bosphorus, who had taken the occasion of the Roman civil war to invade the province of
Pontus; however he suffered a crushing defeat at the battle of
Nicopolis in
Armenia (
December of
48 BC). Direct intervention by Caesar brought a quick end to the conflict, and Pharnaces’ army was annihilated at
Zela in
47 BC. Despite this failure, he remained a
trusted friend of Caesar.
Domitius Calvinus's activities after the death of Caesar are unknown, but in
43 BC he was a strong supporter of
Octavianus and participated in the civil war against
Brutus and
Cassius. During the
Philippi campaign in
42 BC, he had to bring reinforcements from
Italia to
Greece for
Mark Antony and Octavianus' army, however his fleet was destroyed by the enemy in the
Ionian Sea with the loss of two
legions. Despite this defeat he was awarded the honor of a second consulship in 40 BC and was sent by Octavianus as governor to
Spain, where he remained for three years (
39 BC-36 BC). Apparently, his military activities in Spain had success, since on his return he was awarded a
triumph and was saluted as
imperator by his troops. He also rebuilt the
Regia in the
Roman Forum. Although we do not have many facts concerning his further
political activities, an
inscription shows that in
20 BC he was still alive and a member of the important
Arval Brethren priesthood, reserved only for members of the nascent Imperial family and to the emperor's most distinguished supporters.
Although Domitius Calvinus' career does not show any particular ability, either in politics (he obtained his first consulship only after scandalous
bribery) or in
war (he suffered two major defeats), he maintained an important political role. This was most probably due to the fact that he was one of the very few
Roman nobles to support the Caesar/Octavianus party from the very beginning.
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